Page 81 of Hot and Bothered
“Wait.” I held up a hand to stop him. “What?”
Jacob gave me a grateful look.
“So you agree?” he asked. “You think we should just re-use the decorations? We never got to use them the first time, might as well not let all that work go to waste.”
“Are you telling me,” I began very carefully, “that our parents are planning a second wedding for us?”
Jacob looked at me oddly.
“That’s why you’re back, isn’t it?” he said. “You needed some time alone to get rid of your jitters, I get that. But now we can start moving ahead with things again.”
My vision went white and staticky with shock. Then I saw red.
“Are youfucking kidding me?” I screeched.
Jacob’s face went slack. I never swore like that. But certain situations called for strong language, and this was one of them.
I gritted my teeth and stomped back into the dining room. I didn’t care if Jacob followed or not.
“What did you tell them?” I demanded, glaring at my parents and pointing to Jacob’s. “Did you tell them the wedding is still on?”
“Now, Alice,” my mother said, letting out a nervous laugh and using a sickly sweet tone. “We can talk about this later, after—”
“No.” I shut her down. “We’ll talk about this now.” I turned to Jacob’s parents. “What exactly did they tell you I’ve been up to these last few months? Whatever it was, they were lying. You know what I’ve been doing? I’ve been shacking up with a—”
My mother flew from her seat, hands waving wildly, her eyes round with panic.
“There’s no need to make a fuss,” she said hurriedly. “We can discuss this rationally. You know how important this wedding is for all of us.”
“For all ofyou,” I hissed. “I’m not going to go back to being under your thumb and pretending to live a lie just so you can do some fuckingbusiness merger.”
“That’s just about enough, young lady,” my father boomed.
“No,I’vehad enough,” I said. “You never cared about what I wanted. You only ever cared about yourselves. I’ve had it. I’m done.”
I turned my glare on all of them.
“I’m going to live my life the wayIwant.” My tone was resolute and final. “And if you can’t accept that, then I don’t need you.”
I turned on my heel and stormed out of the dining room, down the long hallway to the front foyer.
I couldn’t believe my parents had done this. They had tricked me into coming home, making me think they wanted to reconcile, all the while they’d been scheming behind my back.
Did they really think they could get me to go through with it? How in the world had they expected me to agree to marry Jacob again? Did they think I was just going to go back to being the obedient daughter I used to be?
Forget it. I didn’t need this, and I didn’t need them.
“Alice, wait!”
Jacob came running down the hallway just as I yanked open the front door. I paused.
Had Jacob been in on it? Or had they convinced him I really did want to go through with it this time?
I turned to face him, my expression stony and arms crossed.
“What?” I asked. “I’m not going to apologize this time. I’m done with being tricked and used.”
“What did you mean,” he began, panting a little from running. “What did you mean when you said, living a lie?”
